PIB busts three YouTube channels spreading fake news

The fact-check unit of Press Information Bureau (PIB) has busted three YouTube channels which were spreading false information in India, the government said on Tuesday. These channels had nearly 33 lakh subscribers and their videos, almost all of which were found to be fake, were watched over 30 crore times.

This is the first time when PIB has taken action against specific YouTube channels as against individual posts on social media spreading false claims. These include channels such as News Headlines, Sarkari Update and Aaj Tak Live.

These YouTube channels spread false and sensationalist claims about the Supreme Court of India, the Chief Justice of India, government schemes, Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), and farm loan waivers, among other fake news, the government said. Examples include fake news such as the Supreme Court to have ruled that future elections would be conducted by ballot papers; the government giving money to people who have bank accounts, Aadhar cards and PAN cards; ban on EVMs, and so on.

The YouTube channels were observed to be using fake and sensationalist thumbnails with logos of TV channels and images of their news anchors to mislead viewers into believing that the news was authentic. These channels were also found to be displaying advertisements on their videos, and monetising misinformation on YouTube.

This July, Union minister of information and broadcasting Anurag Thakur had said his ministry had taken action against 94 YouTube channels, 19 social media accounts and 747 websites working against the interest of the country in 2021-22, and got them blocked. These actions were taken under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, Thakur had said in a reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.